Financial Accounting Assignment 4 Course Hero

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Northern Kentucky University *

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610

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Finance

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Jan 9, 2024

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 For the Sears Company, provide a brief detail how the company remains open after burning through over $6 billion in cash over four years just to keep the doors open In 2005, Eddie Lampert, the 51% primary shareholder of Sears Holding Co. (now ESL Investments and Transform SR Brands LLC), acquired the company through a combination with Kmart, earning him the moniker "financial genius." He utilized his acquired Kmart's inflated earnings and stock price to purchase Sears after successfully rescuing the company from bankruptcy and reducing capital investment (Isidore, 2018). In addition to being an extremely successful hedge fund manager in the market, ESL investments is owned by him, and he was a successful private equity owner. Eddie's ego was undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that a private equity owner took over a retail behemoth like Kmart, combined it with Sears, and used non-retail strategies to make it look successful. Eddie Lampert assumed some of the most intricate and comprehensive financial engineering the retail industry has ever seen when he became chairman of Sears Holdings and eventually became CEO (Unglesbee, 2021a). Instead of using retail strategies, hedge fund financials and mathematics were used. Later, this became disastrous for both Sears America and Sears Canada, causing the latter to file for bankruptcy in 2017 (Unglesbee, 2021b). Eddie transferred hundreds of Sears' most valuable assets to a real estate investment company named Seritage Growth Properties, in which ESL has a large stake, when Sears was on the verge of bankruptcy. Lampert and ESL earned above-market rent income from Sears through Seritage in addition to holding the pricey real estate assets (Unglesbee, 2021b). Eddie and his friends seem to have purchased Kmart and Sears, then proceeded to plunder the companies' assets using cunning financial scheme manipulations and deception in order to maximize profits, all the while transferring ownership of the companies' assets and equity from

unsecured creditors to themselves. Based on the financials presented, it seems that Eddie, the principal owner, was the one who was trying to take advantage of Sears and transfer all of its worth to him. This is clear by looking at line items 42 and up in the financial statement: proceeds from loan issuances, where Sears raised money by guaranteeing Eddie's payment. Line item 32 is another: income from investments and property sales in which the finest retail assets brought in over $2.7 billion in 2016. This money was most likely given to Eddie's Seritage Growth Properties (Sears, 2017). As of right now, Eddie Lampert's Transformco purchased Sears Holdings in the beginning of 2019. With the exception of a few locations, the Sears Company is essentially a husk of what it once was, having filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and fought a protracted legal battle over the last 2.5 years (Unglesbee, 2021a). Even though they are the most successful Sears has ever run, the remaining locations only make a pitiful profit while they are in business. Eddie and his accomplices have persisted in dragging out the legal proceedings against them in order to avoid having to pay creditors. Many of the retailer's suppliers are among those who have been waiting for payment for goods that were supplied years ago. The Sears case is among the most costly retail bankruptcy case in history due to the length of time it was in chapter 11 bankruptcy and its complexity. Eddie is dragging things out as suppliers find it harder and harder to recoup any of their losses due to Sears Holdings' mountain of legal and consultancy expenditures (Unglesbee, 2021a). Eddie slyly took advantage of Sears for personal benefit. His "hidden" profit, litigation strategies, and insider knowledge of the financial systems were unprecedented in the retail sector. He has exerted every effort to transform Sears and Kmart into his personal playground. After closing more than 3500 establishments, his treasured possessions are the stores that remain.

These more than thirteen stores will keep making money until they stop, at which point they will also close. For the Disney statement, where is their cash coming from and where are they spending the cash? (What are the major uses of cash outside of operations.) On the cash flows sheet, the Walt Disney Company's operations and borrowings account for the majority of its cash flows. This is represented by line items 19: cash provided by operations and 27: borrowings (Disney, 2017). Line goods are the next expensive items. 37: Beginning of the Year and Restricted Cash, Cash and Cash Equivalents, and 38: Cash Equivalents, Total Cash, and Restricted Cash. 26: Net borrowings and repayments of commercial paper. Disney (2017) reported that cash distributions were received from stock investors. The other elements are as follows: 31: Proceeds from the exercise of stock options; 12: Other Operating Activities; Cash Flow Statement; 11: Equity-based compensation (Disney, 2017). The bulk of Walt Disney's operations and financing activities are represented by these line items, with the company's cash on hand totaling around $29 billion as seen in the cash flows statement. The cash inflow for Walt Disney is shown by these line items. According to Disney (2017), Walt Disney is reinvesting its cash for the following purposes: line items 21 and 22 (investments in parks, resorts, and other property), line item 23 (other), and line item 24 (cash used in investing activities). These line items have decreased between 2015 and 2017, most likely as a result of the investments that have produced a profit on such properties. Despite the original outlay of funds, Walt Disney is receiving a return on investment that allows them to maintain a profit margin. Investors may better comprehend Walt Disney's dedication to guaranteeing future revenue from these assets by looking at his investments in theme parks, resorts, and other real estate. These also assist investors in comprehending Walt

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Disney's pledge in the future to refrain from selling these assets to pay down debt and obligations, which point to a robust revenue business. Walt Disney is repurchasing common stock, which is likely a sign of confidence in the company's future performance metrics, according to the financing portion of the announcement. They have conducted growth-based analysis behind the scenes to predict they would perform well in the future. Additionally, they seek to add value for the owners, as this maintains investment interest. According to Curry (2023), a higher stock price indicates greater value for the company and a larger return for investors, hence leading to an increase in company equity and higher share prices. Line 29: Dividends: Walt Disney will have to make long-term payments, and while they are not as expensive as repurchasing common stock, they do carry a risk of falling share values. Walt Disney's decision to only partially reinvest their funds in dividends makes logical sense in light of this (Curry, 2023). Line item 33: Other could refer to any and all additional chances that don't fall into any specific category but nevertheless have the potential to yield a return on investment if financed. These might include updating the rides, renovating the parking lots, updating the media surrounding the amusement parks, etc. These details, while unrelated to a particular line item, contribute to the overall return on investment (ROI) of the other assets and, in certain situations, even produce an actual ROI. Line item 27: Reduction in borrowings is the last one. This could be advantageous for the company as a whole as well as for future profits because there will be less interest paid over time (Disney, 2017).